The Hoarders

A city known for people that carelessly throw away their garbage has room for those at the other end of the spectrum: The Hoarders.

Every now and then one turns up. All major cities have stories of hoarders; sometimes it's the crazy woman with 150 cats, other times it's the pack-rat man.

The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department found a pack-rat. An elderly woman stuffed two adjoining rooftop flats she owns with more than 30 tonnes of junk, including: broken appliances, old refrigerators, piping, chairs, newspapers, plastic bags and discarded umbrellas. She slept under the staircase with a dozen cats.

During the cleanup, government workers found newborn kittens. The place was infested with rats, mice and cockroaches. The flats were littered with maggot-infested corpses of cats and rats. In the past 10 days, the department has removed 25 tonnes of junk, with another six or seven tonnes remaining. It will take another week to haul the crap down. Two male workers removing a heavy, rusted air conditioning unit wondered how the old woman got it up there by herself.

In that situation, a person found to be hoarding would be fined, but the woman has been let off the hook as she has been cooperating with the cleanup effort. By cooperating I mean she's in a psychiatric ward of a hospital.

She was doing her part to help keep Hong Kong clean.

Think of all the rats and roaches that would have been on the streets if not for her.

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